Quotes on Kimi

“Compared to last year, the first part of the season has not been ideal but not a disaster, even if we did not get the results we wanted for many different reasons.”

“We have the speed and everything to do better results, the feeling with the car is good but we keep having mistakes or issues here and there and this cost us a lot of points. As a team we want to be fast and more consistently in the front, to really challenge the Mercedes. I’m sure if we can clean up things and get rid of all the issues we can do a good job and get much better results. It’s hard to say how far is Mercedes still ahead, it seems to vary from circuit to circuit and different conditions. We know there’s still a lot of work to be done but I think we’re going in the good direction.”

“It was a very sad thing to lose Jules, and the circumstances of his accident made it even sadder. Motorsport is dangerous sport and things can go easily wrong , we all know but we never expect these things to happen. I send my condolences to his family.” [via ferrarif1.com]

Media Paddock Quotes

“There is no point to be racing, if I didn’t believe I have [the speed] – and I am sure I have.

“We have demonstrated that many times but the results, when you look at the points, it doesn’t show.”

“I know the real story, it’s no real problem for me.”

“Somehow I end up in the same situation every year and it makes no difference if I have a contract or not. I have a contract and it’s an option now [for 2016].

“It’s not a new thing and it seems to happen every year in F1. I have made it very clear to the team what I want to happen and it’s to be here next year. But unfortunately I don’t know anything more than you guys.

“I don’t read a lot of stuff, but obviously I can see a lot of stuff being written, but whatever comes out in the press doesn’t really matter for me.

“Wherever it comes from, it doesn’t come from here.”

“I’m pretty sure I will be one of the first to know rather than reading in the newspaper when something comes up. Like I said, time will tell and until then I will try to do the same as before and whatever the decision is we will go from there.”

Asked when a decision would be made, Raikkonen said: “I don’t know, you have to talk to the team. It’s not my decision and I don’t know any more than I knew at the start of the year.

“For me the decision and the whole thing hasn’t changed for months. If I knew I would easily say, but unfortunately I don’t know. I have said many times what would like to happen, but who knows. Time will tell obviously, so let’s wait and see.”

“Time will tell obviously. I don’t know what will happen and there is no point to start guessing what will happen. I would like to know, but I don’t know, so I will wait until I know and then we will see what happens after that.”

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OTHER STUFF

Sebastian Vettel: “I’m not the project leader, I know my role. In the end, it’s about Ferrari, it’s about the team, so I think that’s the most important thing for Kimi and myself. I want to beat him, he wants to beat me, that’s normal competition. The thing that I appreciate the most about Kimi is that there’s no bulls***! We are both working in the same direction in trying to help the team. I remember the days when I was sitting in front of the TV at home looking at Kimi’s on-board laps in admiration so it’s still the same guy in that car. I think there are no doubts, if you go up and down the paddock, he’s one of the most skilled drivers that we have.”

How impressed were you with Kimi Raikkonen at Lotus?
Simon Longley, UK

Ah, I love Kimi! He’s an interesting character, to be honest. I have a lot of nice memories with him, I also remember some stress sometimes…

F1R: What… is that in terms of dealing with his behaviour?

EB: Er, no more comment on this one! I might tell you another day, in the pub when you’re not recording and if F1 Racing is paying the bill, obviously. I really like Kimi and I was really stunned by his racecraft: it was unbelievable.

Kimi takes to social media for the first time… In a Q&A session with the fans on Ferrari’s Twitter account:

Kimi Raikkonen is as fast as Ferrari Formula 1 team-mate Sebastian Vettel but the German makes fewer mistakes, according to the team’s technical director James Allison.

Allison can only recall Vettel making one error this season, when he ran wide at the final corner on lap 36 of the Bahrain Grand Prix, damaging his front wing and forcing an unscheduled stop.

Raikkonen has had a tougher time of things, particularly in qualifying, resulting in the fact he is 59 points adrift of Vettel heading into this weekend’s race in Hungary.

Asked by Italian publication Autosprint to assess Raikkonen’s season, Allison said: “There’s no speed difference between he and Sebastian.

“Sometimes Kimi is quicker, other times it’s Seb.

“The difference is Sebastian never, or almost never, makes mistakes.

“This year only in Bahrain have we seen after all, that he can make mistakes.

“But besides that weekend, he has practically never made any errors. Kimi instead, especially in qualifying, has had a few more slip-ups.

“I’d say the same thing if Kimi was here, and I think he would accept it.

“Sometimes you just need a small mistake to ruin a weekend, but the speed is there. Kimi knows that too.”

Allison is also convinced Ferrari can again close the gap to Mercedes after falling away of late to undermine the positive start made to the year, with the highlight being Vettel’s victory in the second race in Malaysia.

He has suggested that success “perhaps” came too soon and raised expectations but he has no doubt Ferrari will rediscover its form.

“You certainly can’t refuse a victory when it comes,” added Allison.

“The Malaysian Grand Prix was an incredible day, getting back to winning ways has given us a great push, and now I can’t wait to re-live it again.

“If I look at what we have done since the beginning of the season, I see our work has produced good results.

“We have improved by 1.5 seconds per lap thanks to the development done on both the car and the power unit.

“If I have to bet on what’s going to happen in the second half of the season, then I believe we’ll reduce our gap to Mercedes and that we’ll do better than Williams.”

Ferrari boss Maurizio Arrivabene is refusing to bow to pressure to extend Kimi Raikkonen’s contract and is instead using it as a motivating tool for the Finnish driver.

Raikkonen’s contract expires at the end of the year but he has an option to continue into 2016 based on his performance. Speculation about his future stepped up a gear over the weekend as he arrived in Bahrain with three consecutive defeats to team-mate Sebastian Vettel, but on Sunday he arguably gave his best performance since returning to Ferrari last year.

Arrivabene said he was not ready to offer Raikkonen the contract just yet, but would instead dangle it over his driver as motivation to deliver more results.

“I’m happy with the drivers that we have, but this does not mean that I am going to sign with Kimi tomorrow,” Arrivabene said. “We are very clear, I repeat again: I said to Kimi, ‘Look, it depends on your performance’ and he has demonstrated that he’s a great driver.

“So if you ask me now, does he deserve to renew the option, now today I am going to say yes. But if I am going to say yes, I don’t want the driver to fall asleep. So I want to keep him up.

“Kimi is giving the best when he is a bit in trouble. This is a psychological approach. So the [contract] paper at the moment is white. Sometimes I have to offer the pen [to sign], then I take it back. And Kimi is going to the podium.”

Asked whether Lewis Hamilton, who has yet to sign for Mercedes for next year, is being considered as a possible replacement, Arrivabene said: “Does Lewis Hamilton call you? Because he never calls me.

“Every driver here in the paddock wants to drive for Ferrari, this is normal. Even the guys who were quite a lot of time world champion.”

KRS NOTICE

Hello dear fan, since the end of the 2015 Italian GP I had decided to take a break away from KRS website, so that means a lack of posts and photo albums. But updates remain on our Facebook and Twitter pages. Sorry :(
~ EvenstarSaima